Yorkshire pub wins pie contest judged by Tom Kerridge
Jon Allen took the title with a Welsh cob pie (£12.95), which features diced lamb, buttery pastry and dried mint.
The pie is one of the best-sellers on the pub's menu, which sells an average 60 pies per week (240 portions) at the 40-cover site. Around 85% of the pub's total food sales are from pies.
The pub boasts a menu of 42 pies, all named after breeds of horses.
The competition was judged by two Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge of the Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire and competition sponsor M&S’s pie expert Matt Dawson.
Kerridge said: "The balance between the lamb, the filling and the gravy was great."
Allen said: “It was tremendous news. We were absolutely thrilled when we heard the news. Since the award our quiet nights have got busier but we are at full capacity anyway as the pub is small."
The free-of-tie lease has been featured in the Sun, Daily Mail and local press since the win.
The ideas for the pub's pies come mainly via customer suggestions. “We think of ideas or take suggestions then make them, try them and then tweak them. Then we place them on the specials board and let the customers decide,” said Allen.
Other pies on the menu include the Irish Draught, which contains steak braised in Guinness and onion with mushrooms and Guinness gravy (£11.95 ); the Mountain and Moorland (£9.50) which is a combination of butternut squash, onion, sweet potato, rosemary, baby spinach and mozzarella and the Marwari, containing pork vindaloo (£9.50).
Allen also runs two pie challenges for customers to win one of the pub's pie T-shirts by eating a 1kg pie or a pie containing the world's hottest chilli.
Runner up in the competition the was Greene King tenancy the Hare Arms near King’s Lynn, Norfolk with a steak and peppercorn pie, with a brandy and cream sauce (£11.75) described by Kerridge as ‘lush, peppery and spicy.’
The other three finalists are Dolaucothi Arms in Pumsaint, Carmarthenshire, the Blue Flame Inn in Nailsea, Bristol and the Y Farmers’ in Llanfihangel y Creuddyn near Aberystwyth, Wales.
